Personal Reflection: A first pass at my understanding of metaphors in illness
Metaphors can be powerful because of the way that they influence our perception of what they describe. An example that comes readily to mind is one that I use often; when I feel myself wasting time on a discussion topic or activity, I apologetically declare that I’ve been ‘beating a dead horse.’ Physical violence and equines have nothing to do with what I’m describing, but the imagery of this action comes to mind every time I use this phrase. The resulting mental visual changes how I view my action (here, wasting time). I think the most important implication is that my use of this metaphor solidifies how I feel about what I’m doing – it tends to mark the point at which I begin to see my actions in a more meta way, and determine that there is a negative aspect to them. Thus, this metaphor influences the valence of my feelings towards my actions. This is just one example, but I think it illustrates how metaphors generally can act on one’s thinking; for me, it always adds to my mental image of what I’m describing. It is a form of interpretation that amplifies emotion.
I think the power metaphors have to influence our thinking is particularly potent when applied to concepts we know little about. A seasoned medical professional can still have their ideas of an illness (say, cancer) informed by the many metaphors surrounding it, but that influence is tempered by a deep wealth of additional knowledge – facts about the biology of the disease, past experience with diagnosis and treatment, and so on. A non-medical professional, however, may not have the same wealth of information on cancer. Not only is this person less likely to know a lot about the disease, they specifically do not understand details about how it works or its underlying mechanisms. The unknown, particularly the visibly dangerous unknown, inspires fear, and that emotion informs how we think about that concept. From personal experience, I believe that this state of unknowing can make metaphors, which serve to amplify the emotion of an experience, occupy the ‘space’ left by a lack of specific knowledge. In short, metaphors are most influential when we have not yet developed the understanding and language to address the situation or entity in question. In our analysis of cholera in the 1800s, we’ve seen that lack of understanding of an intimidating entity opens opportunities for metaphors and emotions to be at the forefront of one’s thinking about a topic. In Heine’s writing, we see examples of mobs willing to kill neighbors when suspicion arises that cholera is not, in fact, an illness but a poison being spread by community members. The hysteria driven by cholera’s unknown identity spurs this violence, directed towards strangers with powder; they are reduced to symbols of the disease and, in some ways, seem to become the cholera itself. I think the metaphorical thinking, arising from a lack of clear knowledge, is what inspires this violence (Heine).
I am fortunate enough to have never been on the fighting side of a chronic, debilitating, terminal, or unknown illness. I think people with these experiences have the most poignant and thoughtful insight on illness as metaphor. I would be fooling myself if I were to pretend that looking into other people’s experiences would make me an informed thinker on this topic. While I can have milder experiences with illness, I do not find myself considering them through a metaphoric lens, since they have always been nonessential to my life, blips in an otherwise healthy existence.
While my personal experience leaves me unable to comment on meaningful metaphors in illness, I have witnessed effects this equation can have as an individual living through the Covid-19 crisis. As this pandemic has progressed, I’ve seen a particular form of metaphoric thinking inform people’s interpretation of what we’ve been going through collectively.
As we’ve discussed in class, illness metaphors can often involve some form of battle. For example, a person fighting cancer or any formidable illness is considered a ‘warrior.’ I think this language can be empowering, as is the case for people ‘fighting’ their disease (in other ways, this may be restricting and stressful for affected persons, but I wanted to point out the positives). Importantly, this terminology implies the existence of an ‘evil’ entity which needs to be fought and conquered. The obvious enemy, in these times, is the Covid virus which, despite all advances in technology, still sometimes feels like the equal-opportunity killer that ravaged Parisian streets in the 1830s (Heine). It is interesting to see that this metaphor persists despite our current knowledge that viruses and bacteria are not, in fact, invisible executioners. We understand the basic biology of our ‘foe’ much better now – so why does the language persist? Part of this may be the disease’s unknowable nature; even as I write this, information about the effects and dangers of the virus remain conflicted and opaque. While mystery may be part of the issue, I think that the other important consideration is how the disease debilitates, not just the people it infects, but entire countries, the entire world. As I’ve explained, I believe that metaphor is a mechanism for amplifying and clarifying emotion on the subject; it is no surprise, then, that Covid, which endures in dark and painful recesses of our current background, would inspire metaphor that is negative.
One of the reasons why the warrior/enemy narrative is a little concerning is, as I’ve hinted, that there is an enemy to blame. Most would consider this to be the virus, but I think the anger and fear can also be misplaced onto people and groups of people. In the end, despite our knowledge about the illness, Covid appears invisible and undetectable. The person who transmits the virus, however, is much more visible. It is not surprising, therefore, that a fair amount of racist and nationalist rhetoric has bloomed as a result of this crisis, which has doubtless compounded the fear, mistrust, and hurt people have experienced.
I think that metaphors relating to illness can sometimes be a positive thing (ex., the warrior fighting their illness). However, it would be dishonest of me to go further and cherry pick positive associations just to balance this essay. The reality is that, as I see the progression of this pandemic, the most obvious effects of metaphor on illness are negative. Illness, especially incurable and unknown illness, is defined by hurt and the unknown, and these emotions subsequently do amplified harm through the force of metaphor.
Works Cited
Heine, Heinrich. “Heinrich Heine: The Cholera in Paris.” Poetsandprinces.com, 6 Feb. 2014, www.poetsandprinces.com/heinrich-heine-the-cholera-in-paris/.